Insulation for rail joints



P? 1935- I E. F. SCHERMERHORN 1,997,949

INSULATION FOR RAIL JOINTS Filed April 11, 1933 5-Sheets-Sheet l 1ciwrrnerhorw;

April 16, 1935..

E. ,F. SCHERMERHORN 1,997,949

' INSULATION FOR RAIL JOINTS J 5 sheets-sheet 2 Filed April- 1 1, 1935 mAQ/QQWWZJJ E1 5 chernwrhorw,

April 1 6, 1935. E. F. SCHERMERHORN 1,997,949

INSULATION FOR RAIL JOINTS Filed April 11, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 amenW011 V Schernwrhorw,

Patented Apr. 16, 1935 uNlrsos rA'rss PATENT ores signer to The RailJoint Company, New York, N; Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationApril 11, 1933, Serial No. 665,593

10mm. '(Cl.238--155) This invention relates to means for insulatingother sources may collect and establish an elecrail joints, and hasparticular reference to a trical circuit between the rails. novel andbeneficial combination and assembly Accordingly, the general object ofthe present of an insulating end post interposed between the inventionis to provide, in combination with a ends of the rails, and a head pieceof insulation head-piece of insulation constituted by a single 5interposed between the rails and. the head of the member extendingacross the space between the splice bar. ends of the rails, and. havingits top portion In an insulated rail joint the head-piece oi slotted inlateral alinement with the space beinsulation usually is ofsubstantially inverted L- tween the rail ends, an end post of insulationhav- 10. shape in cross section to fit between the undering a formationto extend into and to fill the side of the rail head and the top of thesplice slot in the insulating head-piece, thus to obtain bar and toextend downwardly a suitable distance the principal advantages and atthe same tilne'to between the inner side of the splice bar and theeliminate'the objection to slotting of the insulatrail web, and forvarious different reasons it is ing head-piece.

desirable thatthis head-piece of insulation shall Another object of theinvention is to provide 15 be constituted by a single insulating membera novel headfree rail joint combination in which common to the endportions of .both of the rails, an end post of insulation has portionsprojecting rather than by two separate portions individual betweendivided insulating head pieces of insula to the respective rails. If,:however, the headtion and between shims interposed between the piece ofinsulation is constituted by a single insuhead'pieces of insulation andthe rails. 2O lating member having its top portion extending With theforegoingand other objects in view, uninterrupted across the spacebetween the ends wh ch Wil become more t p e as the of the rails, thesharp or-burred corners at the ture of the invention is betterunderstood, the ends of the rails; especially wherethe under faces sameconsists in the novel features of construcof the heads of the rails meetthe end faces tion, combination and arrangement" o p s s 25 thereof,have a pronounced tendency, due to will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustratvertical and longitudinal movements of the rail edin t e accompanying drawings d fi d n ends, to cut into and to ruptureand tear the the appended claim. insulation, thereby initiating afracture or fracn e drawings, wherein like fit s a0 tures. When afracture begins it usually proreference denote cor p d pa s in the difgresses from the point of cutting or rupture of the felent W insulationdiagonally to an adjacent bolt slot, ure 1 is aside elevation of a railjoint W t which is the line of least resistance, and when the. near splbar removeda illustrating the such a fracture occurs there is a tendencyfor a present novel i u t n combination.

double fracture-$0 develomwhich may and fre- Figure 2 is acentral,transverse section through 35 quently does result in a section of theinsulation the 10 1 becoming broken away and dropping out of the Figure3 is a p sp t v w of h head-piece joint, thus aifecting the essentialinsulating ca,- of insulationpacjtyi f the joint "Consequently, when ahead, Figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating the piece ofinsulation'is constituted by a single insuhead-Piece of insulation d Finsulating end 40 lating member common to the end portions of P951;removed from the rail 301m and assembled both of the rails; it isdesirable to" transversely each Q slot the top portion of the member toprovide a Flgure 5 vlew stmflar to musicmtmg gap therein for lateralalinement with the space an alternamve embodlmfam of the y i i'. r

' between the rail ends thereby to eliminate any In the a contlnu-oustype OI rag Jomt oesbqu f f h i 1 i th illustrated in the presentinstance, R, R, desigp 7' 1 W O e am 9 9, e nate the headfree rails, Bthe'splice bar, C the rails cutting into and initiating fractures in thejoint bolts, D an end post of insulation disposed msulatlon- 'Howewr,Wmle slottmg of the top between theends of the rails, and E a head-piecepertiol'l of therinsulatmg member eliminates e of insulation interposedbetween the rails and 50 major disadvantage, it creates at the same timet e head ofthe plice b another problem inasmuch as an upwardly a As willbe noted by particular reference to Figs. outwardly Opening pocket isproduced between 1 and 3 of the drawings, the insulating headthe splicebar and the rails into which metal piece E is formed as a single memberwhich is cuttings, chips and the like from the rails and approximatelycoextensive in length with the rail joint and which is of substantiallyinverted L-shape in cross section, the same being inclusive ofvertically and laterally extending portions l and II, respectively,joined together by a rounded connecting portion I2. Thus, when theinsulating head-piece is operatively embodied in the rail joint asshown, with the rounded portion 12 thereof interposed between the railhead fillet l3 and the upper inner corner 14 of the splice bar, thevertical portion 10 of the insulation extends downwardly between theinner face of the splice bar and the webs of the rails and the lateralportion ll thereof extends upwardly and outwardly between the top of thesplice bar and the rail head, whether the joint is of the well knownstandard type or is of the headfree type shown. In the portion H3, alongthe lower edge thereof, are formed recesses I5 to receive the jointbolts C whereby the insulation is held against endwise movement, whileformed in the lateral portion H medially thereof, or, in other words, inalinement with the space between the ends of the rails, 'is a transverseslot it which extends from the outer, upper edge of the portion i Ipreferably inwardly across the rounded portion I2 and downwardly anysuitable distance into the portion l0.

The slot l5 preferably is of a width corresponding to the normal widthof the space between the ends of the rails, whereby, as aforesaid, anydanger of the sharp corners at the ends of the rails biting into theinsulation and initiating the formation of a fracture or fractures iseliminated. Moreover, said slot preferably extends appreciablydownwardly into the vertical portion H! of the insulation so as toprovide, between its lower end and the lower edge of the insulation, aline of least resistance to fracture whereby, in the event of a fracturedeveloping for any reason adjacent to the bottom of the slot, it willprogress along the line of leastresistance and'thus simply and withoutparticular harm divide the insula'-' tion into two parts. However,aspreviou'sl'ymen tioned, the slot l6 produces, between the rails andthe head of the splice bar, an upwardly and outwardly opening pocketwhich, in the course of time and unless closedin some practicablemanner, is liable to become more or less filled with metallic particlesthrough which an electrical circuit'may become established'between therails.

Now, in accordance with the inventiomand in order to provide apracticable meansof filling or closing the slot [6 without affecting itsfunctions; the end post D of insulation which is'interposed between therail ends, and which in general outline conforms to the'sectional shapeof the rails, is formed with lateral extensions I! from its web portion!8, and with downward extensions I 9 from its head portion 20 to enterand fill the slot I6. Thus, collection of metallic particles within theslot or pocket and any danger of a circuit being established between therails due to this cause is effectively prevented.

Obviously, since closing of only the upper, open end of the slot I6 isall that may be required to prevent foreign matter from entering thesame, it is optional to provide the end post D with the extensions ll.Thus, only the upper or outer end portion of the slot need be filled orclosed, which may be accomplished by a downward extension 19 of minorlength. Preferably, however, the slot is completely or substantiallyclosed by the extensions I1, I 9 which preferably are formed as asingle, continuous extension, thereby completely safeguarding the jointagainst short circuits due to the causes before mentioned.

According to the alternative embodiment of the invention illustratedinFig. 5 the head insulation E preferably is formed in two separatesections or, in other words, is divided at the meeting ends of the railsR, although it may be formed in one piece, as shown in Fig. 3, andmetallic shims S are interposed between said insulation and therails,the said. shims having formations S which extend into the vacated areasat the lower, outer corners of the headfree rails and at their undersides have bearing faces engaged by the laterally extending portions Hof the insulation E, The shims S also are formed in two separatesections or, in other words, are divided at the meeting ends of therails, and the end post D of insulation is provided with lateralextensions l1 fromits web l8 and with downward extensions l9 from itshead 20' to enter and fill the spaces between the ends of the insulatinghead pieces Ev and the shims S. Thus, a. very practical insulated andshimmed headfree joint is provided in which the load is transmitted tothe splice bars B not only through their upper, inner corners but alsothrough their heads outwardly of their upper, inner corners as in astandard joint.

Without further description it is thought that the features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appendedclaim.

' Iclaim:'-

An insulated rail joint comprising the rails of headfree section havingthe lower side portions of their heads sloping downwardly and inwardly,the splice bar, a one-piece head insulating unit extending across thespace between the rail ends and including a vertical portion disposedbetween the splice bar andthe rail webs, a lateral portion disposedbetween the top of the splice bar and the bottom of the rail headadjacent to the head fillet of the rail, and an upwardly and outwardlydirected portion constituting an extension of the lateral portion andlying against the downwardly and inwardly sloping side portions of therail heads, said unit having a slot opening through the outer edge ofthe last mentioned portion thereof and extending inwardly through saidportion and through the lateral portion downwardly into the verticalportion to a point spaced from the lower edge of the latter portion, andan insulating end post interposed between the rail ends and having alateral extension disposed in said slot, said end post extensionsubstantially filling at least that portion of the slot which extendsthrough the upwardly and outwardly directed portion of the insulatingunit, the head of the splice bar having loading cooperation with thedownwardly and inwardly sloping side faces of the rail heads through theupwardly and outwardly extending portion of the insulating unit.

EDWARDS F. SCHERMERHORN.

